Had this discussion last night, results:

Green = climate change, biodiversity, water saving, energy saving.

Ethical = human rights for workers in usually but not always developing countries, good quality work conditions, no child labour, no sweatshops.

Organic farming = ’slightly ethical’ not ‘green’ as it is about making a luxury pure product for a high value sector of the western market.

Better conditions for workers are not essentially a part of organic, only the methods and chemicals (or not) used to farm the product (ie it is product-centric not people-centric like Fairtrade).

Often organic cotton is brought thousands of miles for processing before shipping to the west, so the chain is not ‘green’.

Above: Paddy fields in Vietnam 2008

There is a strong case that developing countries need modern intensive farming including GM to raise yields of foodstuffs, rather than use low yield organic farming. The ‘green revolution’ that stopped famine in Asia was based on intensive mmodern methods, not a return to peasant farming.

Organic clothes companies often claim to be ’saving the planet’ but that is the green arena of reducing carbon emissions, not purity of product.

Organic cotton and organic food is more about quality of life for producers and consumers, and is really a part of Fair Trade, not climate change.

In fact the argument against organic is that higher yields are achieved with normal farming.

Higher yields of crops and cotton will be needed to feed and clothe an increasing world population that is vulnerable to food shortages due to climate change.

So organic farming is almost against ameliorating climate change… another green conundrum.

In the West it is easy to forget that the projected doubling of population over the next 30 years will mostly take place in ‘undeveloped’ countries, where the choice is not between normal food and organic food, but is between food and… no food. But that is not a choice!

I have developed an alternative to ebay. Well maybe that is an exaggeration as ebay is a great site that I use it everyday to buy and sell and fund the promotion of my own auction site. Maybe now is the time for new sites to rise on the shirttails of ebay. Niche sites that are robust, trustworthy and most of all focused on the needs of a particular group of people.

Why is this possible now? Well auction software is evolving everyday to become low cost, easy to install and above all a pleasant experience for buyers and sellers. We use rainworx - software that just wasn’t around a few years ago. A problem that I learnt at cost.

Back in the dot com boom days I created with a few friends a company inside one of the then Big Six consultancies called waterexchange. A UK based company facilitating the buying and selling of tangible and intangible assets associated with the water industry. We spent literally millions of pounds developing bespoke software with a company called Moai to facilitate trades in abstraction licenses and the materials and tools used in the water industry. So much money in fact that the company was essentially insolvent - couple this with a conflict of interest with our host’ company it was time to move call it day. Although the website waterexchangeuk.com still exists.

It we started now we could exploit the functionality of rainworx and get things off the ground for a few thousand dollars. Indeed that is what I have done with energybook (www.EnergyBook.co.uk) a site focused on green energy and sustainable living. It’s free to use for a start and can host auctions and classifieds as well as trade sales and reverse auctions. So will my new site be a success and a rival to ebay?.. Well you will need to be the judge.

But what I can say is that software is no longer the barrier and the success of the site will hinge on advertising and promotion. And so back to my first contention for if there are to be any successful rivals to ebay it will be in the niche area where users and promotions can be concentrated into a story of success. Beware ebay the niche players are growing and ready to take a slice of the action.

Please pop along  - www.EnergyBook.co.uk